Buddhism: history, philosophy, and major traditions

Siddhartha: The Book And the Film

Published in 1922, Herman Hesse's Siddhartha became one of the classic texts of the 1970s counterculture fascination with Eastern philosophy, Buddhism in particular. Even today the book has a strong cult following, though the fervor afforded its admittedly shallow mysticism has dimmed somewhat. In 1972, at the height of the book's popularity and fifty years after the book's release, the text was adapted into a film by Conrad Rooks. Though the movie remains relatively faithful to the novel in terms of rough narrative, the film lacks the technical precision and excellence that Hesse demonstrated in the novel. Without this literary gravitas, the film ultimately falls flat when contrasted to the book.

Though somewhat critical of the original text, a review in the New York Times in 1972 generally captures the overall purpose of the book, though the author fails to grasp upon some of the more subtle points made by Hesse. The author of that article explained that Hesse's "novel's aggressive anti-intellectualism, enunciated in dime-store prose-poetry, provides comparable escape from social and political responsibility. Don't think, it says, feel. Knowledge can be taught, it says, but wisdom must be experienced [...] Don't try to do anything about the mess in the world around you, find your own peace and to hell with everyone else" (Canby). The novel, and the film, both grasp at a kind of appropriated-by-the-West sense of Buddhist anti-materialism that struck a chord with the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s. The novel's eponymous Siddhartha attempts to follow the Buddha along with his friend Govinda. While Govinda sticks with it, Siddhartha ultimately is disillusioned and turns to more worldly pleasures. Unfortunately, these pleasures do not satisfy and Siddhartha gives them up. In the end, he has his own revelation about oneness and spirituality and the meaning of everything while working with a river ferryman.

Very generally, the events that occur in the book are faithfully transcribed to the film version of the narrative, with some obvious omissions that would have been difficult, impossible, or simply unnecessary to show on film (Canby). Similar to the novel, Siddhartha leaves home with Govinda to find enlightenment with holy men. When he meets the Buddha, only to discover wisdom cannot be taught, Siddhartha leaves that path and turns to more pleasurable pursuits as a merchant and the lover of a beautiful prostitute. In the end of the movie, as in the novel, Siddhartha finds a new kind of enlightenment through a river as a metaphor for life and meaning in general.

Similarly, the film does a relatively accurate job of capturing and illustrating the general purpose and meaning of the book. The book speaks to a kind of Western application of generalized Buddhist principles and maxims: the quest for enlightenment, the lack of satisfaction to be had from a life of material pleasures, and the importance of the individual in achieving wisdom divorced from the teachings of others. Though the film lacks much of the artistic style of the novel, it nevertheless manages to provide audiences with a loose sense of the same meaning that Hesse outlined originally in the novel. Perhaps if the film had managed to present that message and the overall narrative with more than a "plodding piety," the overall impact of the film might have achieved a similar weight as the novel still manages (Canby).

As for following the life of the Buddha, neither the book nor the film manages this save but in the most cursory fashion. Like the novel's Siddhartha, the Buddha did leave his life of earthly pleasures in order to seek enlightenment and spiritual satisfaction. Both the Buddha and Siddhartha ultimately achieved this enlightenment, but beyond general thematic similarities Hesse's story is not an historical account of the Buddha's life. Of course, this should not matter in the least. Rather than an historical adherence to the life of the Buddha through Siddhartha, Hesse instead traces a philosophical adherence that transfers key elements of the transformative life of the Buddha into events that fictitiously occurred in Siddhartha's life as well.